Snapshot: Oxfam's Haiti response

Oxfam staff mark out latrines at a new resettlement camp at Coraille (part of the Government's rainy season evacuation plan). We are providing toilets, showers and water points at the new camp. Our staff are also carrying out public health activities to help prevent the spread of disease.
Photo: Jane Beesley

Marie Carole Bourslquot is a canteen owner in Carrefour Feuilles. Oxfam is supporting 57 canteens like Marie's to provide a daily hot meal to 80 people each. For many this might be their only hot meal of the day. "Before I had this canteen things were really bad," Marie explains. "If I hadn't got this canteen I don't know what I would have done. The canteen is helping me because we are no longer hungry - I use most of the money to buy food for the family. I get about 1,500 Gourde (approximately £25) profit every week."
Photo: Jane Beesley

56-year-old Oblin Tuse prepares the soil for planting in Belladere as farmers head to their fields. This region to the north-east of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince has problems with very severe erosion with landslides and Oxfam is working on projects to alleviate the problems.
Photo: Ami Vitale

A water tanker fills up an Oxfam water bladder at the new relocation site at Coraille. Our emergency response has reached nearly 312,000 people so far with safe water, sanitation and hygiene materials. We began by trucking water to the major camps in Port-au-Prince and are now seeking out those living in small settlements that have sprung up in vacant lots and yards throughout the city. We are also undertaking water treatment and delivery in other towns that were badly damaged by the quake.
Photo: Jane Beesley

Three-year-old Rachelle shows off her sunglasses. She is living with her mother and eight other children at the new relocation site at Coraille where Oxfam has provided toilets, showers and water points. "I like it better than the golf course camp [where we were staying before]. There’s more space, and I like the latrines," explains her mother Micheline. "I would like to set up a small business right here so that I have something to fall back on. I used to be a street vendor before the earthquake…selling fried pork and plantain."
Photo: Jane Beesley

Participants in an Oxfam 'cash-for-work' programme to clean up debris from the earthquake at Tapis Rouge camp, in Port au Prince. Providing paid employment such as collecting rubbish and human waste not only makes for a cleaner camp, it puts money into the pockets of those who need it most.
Photo: Ivan Muñoz

Claudette Etienne with Venite Juste (11) in their shelter. They share a 7’x7’ area with four other people. Oxfam has provided plastic sheeting, buckets and other support. "We received this plastic sheeting from Oxfam in March – before that I was buying plastic bags and tried to make a shelter with those but when it rained we’d get wet. We don’t get wet at the moment. Oxfam has also been providing water and toilets – someone comes by truck and they are cleaned. And tampons for women, which has been really useful. I even went to the persons house – the one who gave us the vouchers – to thank them. All the women here appreciated that."
Photo: Jane Beesley

Farmers benefit from a seed distribution in the town of Sarazen. Most families feel the strain of supporting extra family and friends who fled the earthquake in Port-au-Prince and these extra seeds are desperately needed since most had to eat the stock that was supposed to be planted this year.
Photo: Ami Vitale

11-year-old Melissa Mervilus takes part in an Oxfam children's project - recycling rubbish into miniature paper towns with public health messages painted on them. "We have learnt about washing hands, painting, drawing and making houses," she explains. "When we go home we encourage others to wash their hands. It’s a lot of fun here. There are others wanting to come and join us."
Photo: Jane Beesley

Laurent Antony is from Cite Soleil, where Oxfam is working with Disaster Waste Recovery (DWR) to clear the drainage channels which had become completely blocked in the aftermath of the earthquake. The project also offers some of the poorest people an opportunity to earn money. "We want to thank Oxfam and DWR for this work… those who were upstairs have come downstairs to us… things are starting to be different here. Before the drainage channels were so blocked you could walk along them. When it rained the houses were flooded with water and rubbish –and people got sick."
Photo: Jane Beesley

Sonia Cesaire signing for plastic sheeting with the assistance of Oxfam Shelter Officer Gaston Yonald during a distribution at Croix des Bouquets. Oxfam has distributed plastic sheets and shelter kits to assist the emergency needs of more than 94,100 people. Although we will also distribute some tents, at this moment in the emergency, plastic sheeting has an advantage over tents: it can shrink or expand to fit the space available.
Photo: Jane Beesley

Eight-year-old Katery Simon painting the house she has made a part of a children's project run by Oxfam to recycle waste and raise awareness of public health. The roof is inscribed with the slogan 'Wash your hands before eating.'
"One of the things the children all have in common is that they all lost their homes in the earthquake. So it’s significant that they are making these houses…they are rebuilding houses, rebuilding their lives and in this way they have some control over their lives," explains Public Health Promoter Jane Maonga.
Photo: Jane Beesley